Oh, my how things have changed

I'm a sucker for old movies, and if the old movies include singing and dancing, I am in old movie heaven. One of the things I've noticed, because you cannot miss it, are the sizes of those dancing girls. Now, they are not, by any stretch, hefty ladies, MGM left the dancing hippos to Disney. But by today's standards these lovelies are behemoths. It's difficult for me to judge, but most women looked to wear a size 10, maybe 14, but it's their muscular thighs that caught my attention. When you compare them to the boney twigs of a Terry Hatcher or that walking bag-o-bones Victoria Beckham, well, they do look, how shall I put it--outsized. And yet, they look so good in their dresses, but then the 1930s style was flattering and very feminine.

We women are susceptible to image because regardless of what brains or skills you may have, it's easier to get a foot in the door if it's attached to a shapely leg. Consider, for example, the hoopla over Ugly Betty, and what makes Betty so ugly: she has braces, bangs and does not wear a size zero. I actually knew someone who wore a size zero, and even she was displeased with her appearance because her arms were too skinny. She looks much better at a size five, but now she thinks she's overweight.

But men are also falling prey to the everlasting, and often futile, chase for the perfect appearance. Frankly, a perfect six-pack turns me off, it looks so unfriendly. But then I am an old bird, so my opinion doesn't count. But what is interesting is that body image is now a problem for men. According to people who know, about 10 percent of men have either anorexia and bulimia, both of which can kill you.

I'd like to think that we have grown beyond the beauty beats brains theory, but I know better. What scares me is that when I look at a line of 1930s chorines, my eyes go to their thighs and without even thinking, I think about size. Imagine what kind of influence this has on teen and now pre-teen girls who take as their role models the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. I suppose it isn't fair to single out those two train wrecks, but a whole generation of girls have followed those to from their pre-teen stardom to the current chaos they call their lives. And while I don't think that most teenage girls will follow in the footsteps of either Lohan or Spears, I do think that their body image is often the result of unrealistic expectations.

I don't expect this to change. I don't even expect it to get better. I just wish we lived in a different more accepting world.